Whew!

I can hardly believe the holidays just zipped right by and it is 2009! Has it seriously been 9 years since the turn of the century? Seems like just yesterday! I am trying to regain my energy and get back into the swing of things. Billy and Dave's families were able to join us this Christmas/New Years. What a blast, but exhausting! We had so much fun getting all the grand kids together--what a sight all ten of them were!
They had so much fun together. We spent 10 days altogether and had various activities planned. Each night one of the families was assigned to make dinner for everyone--awesome--I didn't have to make dinner almost all week and let alone clean my kitchen. We did a talent show for FHE. We put on an encore presentation of Kalea's ballet recital, "Good Ship Lollipop." Kalea stole the show but Danny almost did too!

Billy's family did some kind of kitchen pot skit:Mike's family (minus Amanda, who had to work, so sad!) showed off their talents, Kuhio with his amazing art skills, Kaila and her dance moves, and Mike with his second language vocal styling!
Tia and Will did a skit on Mom and Dad--hilarious! They dressed like them and all, but the originals are definitely the BEST! Dave and Liz did a "Name that Tune" as Dave played on the guitar (I won!). We jammed with Guitar Hero, played sports at the Stake Center, watched Bedtime Stories, went to Jumpin' and Lasertag in Loveland, brought in the New Year, joined Dad & Mom at their ward sacrament meeting, and ultimately just enjoyed being with each other! We definitely missed out on having our Elder, Seth, around but, it was so good to hear from him. We can hardly believe he will be finishing up his mission this year--and we are definitely excited to see him again...he is one awesome missionary though!





CHRISTMAS 2008
Christmas this past year was so exciting. It is so much fun to have kids and see their eyes light up and all the excitement Christmas brings. We enjoy Christmas Eve every year with Danny's family at his parents home. It was exciting to have all of us together, especially for Randalyn and Marc to fly home from England to join us! We enjoyed a night of baking, eating, and exchanging gifts. I have never seen so many BIG presents under--or rather around a Christmas tree. Dan and Susies gave all of the kid's families food storage. Needless to say, to put the cans and pouches in a box and wrap made for the huge gifts, it was a great idea and much needed! As we were packing up the car and heading back home, Kalea and I looked up in the sky to see if we could catch Santa--to our amazement we saw a red blinking light way up high that could only mean that it was Rudolph lighting the way! What a real treat for Kalea; she shared this experience with some of her cousins that were a little disbelieving until I confirmed what we saw.
Christmas morning is so great around our house still because the kids still sleep in. After enjoying presents, we rushed off to help serve food at the Salvation Army. It was a great experience for all! I enjoyed so much being with family especially at such a special time of year. It is so great to know that our families are eternal and to know the greatest gift that we have been give is Christ's Atonement for us--we are truly blessed! On a side note, I just read Glenn Beck's book, TheChristmas Sweater; outstanding! I loved the message behind the story.
So here I am, eight days past the New Year and still have in hand my "Happy Holidays" photo card to send out. How embarrassing that they will be late coming out, but nonetheless, coming!